The present invention relates to printing systems and more particularly to a hand held mobile phone having an integral internal printer.
The invention has been developed primarily for use with ultra compact mobile phones such as Personal Handyphone System (PHS) phones or other close network cellular devices. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that the invention is equally applicable to all other types of hand held mobile phones including existing Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) phones, the proposed new General packet radio service (GPRS) and Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) phones, satellite phones and the like.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile phone device having an integral internal compact printer that is adapted to print information from the phone on to print media supplied from a source external to the phone device.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hand held mobile phone device with integral internal print apparatus, said device comprising:
a mobile telephone unit for transmitting and receiving signals;
processing means for processing said received and transmitted signals into a printable form;
a printhead and ink distribution unit assembly attached to said processing means for printing out said processed signals onto a print media; and
print media feed means to feed print media received from a supply external of said phone device to said printhead for printing of said processed signal information thereon.
Preferably, the print media comprises paper or card sheets.
The printhead can comprise a single unit of the width of the print media and may be formed via semiconductor fabrication techniques.
Desirably, the printhead or printhead and ink distribution unit assembly is detachable from the phone device. In the preferred form the printhead is part of a subassembly also including an ink distribution unit and ink supply, hereinafter referred to as a printhead and ink supply module.
The printhead can comprise a full color printhead attached via an ink distribution unit to a series of ink supply reservoirs to supply separate colors to each of the colors of the printhead.
In a preferred form, the printhead comprises an array of ink ejection nozzle arrangements wherein liquid can be ejected by means of corresponding actuators attached to ejection paddles associated with each of the nozzle arrangements. Preferably, the actuators are thermal bend actuators.
The printhead and ink supply module preferably includes an ink distribution unit connected with a series of attached ink supply reservoirs, with a first reservoir being substantially larger than the others which is preferably used to store black ink. The printhead and the ink distribution unit assembly or printhead and ink supply module optionally forms a releasable snap fit with the mobile telephone unit.
The printhead or printhead and ink distribution unit assembly also preferably includes an authentication means that in the preferred embodiment is in the form of an authentication chip. This enables the use of only approved consumables with the phone device and also optionally records use and consumption data and which may be used to allow for only a predetermined amount of usage of the printhead or printhead and ink supply module.
The print media can be fed into the printer phone manually. Alternatively, a print media dispensing device can be used that preferably includes:
a print media storage region having a dispensing outlet;
a printer phone cradle to support said printer phone and align a print media inlet thereon with the dispensing outlet of the print media storage region; and
a dispensing ejector mechanism operable to eject a predetermined quantity of print media through the dispensing outlet and into the printer phone print media inlet for engagement with an associated print media feed means provided in said phone.
Desirably, the print media is in the form of card or paper sheets.
Preferably, the ejector mechanism comprises a slider operable to select and engage one of the card or paper sheets and drive it through the dispensing outlet.
Desirably, the print media storage means includes a means to bias a supply of print media disposed therein toward said ejector mechanism and into alignment with said dispensing outlet.
While the preferred telephone unit of the invention is a PHS phone device, the invention is equally applicable to any type of mobile phone utilising any communications system, so long as the transmitted signals can be processed into a printable form. Examples of other suitable phone types and/or communication systems include GSM, CDMA satellite phone systems and third generation internet connected mobile phone (3G) systems including GPRS and WCDMA.